September 16, 2013

Braine Reviews: My Own Mr. Darcy by Karey White + Giveaway

After being dragged to the 2005 movie Pride and Prejudice by her mother, sixteen-year-old Elizabeth’s life changes when Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Darcy appears on the screen. Lizzie falls hard and makes a promise to herself that she will settle for nothing less than her own Mr. Darcy. This ill-advised pledge threatens to ruin any chance of finding true love. During the six intervening years, she has refused to give any interested suitors a chance. They weren’t Mr. Darcy enough.
Coerced by her roommate, Elizabeth agrees to give the next interested guy ten dates before she dumps him. That guy is Chad, a kind and thoughtful science teacher and swim coach. While she’s dating Chad, her dream comes true in the form of a wealthy bookstore owner named Matt Dawson, who looks and acts like her Mr. Darcy. Of course she has to follow her dream. But as Elizabeth simultaneously dates a regular guy and the dazzling Mr. Dawson, she’s forced to re-evaluate what it was she loved about Mr. Darcy in the first place.

MY OWN MR. DARCY by Karey White kicks off my contemporary romance TBR this week. The title is very indicative of its Jane Austen influence and I have to say that though it was a little predictable, I guess I'll never get tired of the Pride & Prejudice theme. The appeal is so universal, the HEA clean and romantic. My favorite part is the very spirited heroine, Elizabeth Barrett, she did her namesake proud.

Lizzie is a very likeable character and her story is something a lot of us readers can relate to. Like us, Lizzie has a book boyfriend and in her case it's Mr. Darcy and he is the reason why her love life is so stunted. Like really, who can possible measure up to Mr. Darcy point for point?! Well we know that this is a foolish ideology because Mr. Darcy is a fictional character and Lizzie can't possibly have an exact replica of this iconic character. Still it was entertaining, and to an extent, very relatable to witness Lizzie try and convince herself that Matt Dawson is her Mr. Darcy. Unfortunately while Mr. Darcy braved and rebelled against the wishes of his snobbish peers and imperial aunt, Matt Dawson stumbled through this and tried to mold Lizzie into someone acceptable for his friends and family to be with. Rude awakening!

While Matt Dawson is ideal, Chad Keller is real. Matt is a little like Mr. Darcy, he's arrogant, entitled, a snob and a tad self-important which is curiously appealing to Lizzie. Chad on the other hand is your boy-next-door, low maintenance, sweet, thoughtful and accepts Lizzie for who she is, colored printed tights and all. Still it took a while for the spirited Lizzie to realize these things but eventually she woke up to reality and put things into perspective.

There is a love triangle here and fortunately it wasn't annoying. What I liked about this triangle is the absence of strong-arming, emotional blackmail and the lack of ho-bags. I can't stand it when the girl thinks she's so hot she's entitled to being with two men at the same time because she can't help it. HO! The key is with Chad, he really gave Lizzie and Matt wide berth to let their relationship run its course despite his strong affection for Lizzie. Lizzie being so caught up in her Mr. Darcy dream coming true in Matt that she really fought to make their relationship work. Slowly Lizzie saw everyone for who they really are, including herself, and I liked how she transitioned from Matt to Chad, she didn't rebound and instead had a real and believable A-HA! moment.

MY OWN MR. DARCY is a very enjoyable and clean romantic comedy heavy with Jane Austen's influence. It's also a story about learning what is real from fantasy and finding a way to blend it together to suit oneself. The characters are likeable, relatable with voices distinct it's easy to get lost in their world for a few hours. KWhite has a great writing voice, very wholesome with just the right amount of emotional triggers to make the story engaging and worth investing an afternoon with.

What happened next wasn’t supposed to happen. Ever. And I didn’t mean for it to happen this time. I just didn’t see it coming until it was too late.

“Have you seen any good movies lately?” Chad asked.

“I haven’t gone to a movie in ages, but I watched part of Pride and Prejudice last night.”

“What is it about that movie? My mom and sister like it, too.”

“Probably because it’s one of the best movies ever made.”

“You really think so?”

“I love it.”

“Allison—that’s my sister—she says the best way to impress a girl is to watch Pride and Prejudice with her.”

Uh oh. I tried to hide my qualms with a laugh that sounded artificial to my ears. Long ago I’d decided my Pride and Prejudice was a hallowed movie—only to be shared with a chosen few. I knew it would be difficult, if not impossible, to hide my feelings about the movie. And about Mr. Darcy. How could I betray Mr. Darcy by watching him bare his soul while I sat beside another man?

“Let’s watch it.”

“I don’t know. You probably wouldn’t like it,” I said. “There’s no action. It’s all dialogue.”

“Should I be offended that you think I couldn’t handle a movie with dialogue?” Chad was teasing me and I should have teased back but I was too busy panicking.

“It’s not that I think you couldn’t handle it. I just don’t think you’d really like it. We could watch something else. Mission Impossible? Transformers?” Please. Anything but Pride and Prejudice.

“I’m afraid you’re only making me more curious to see what all the fuss is about. There’s a video store close to my house. Let’s go get it.”

I made other suggestions at the video store but in the end, we walked out with Pride and Prejudice and Chad’s thumb was covering Matthew Macfadyen’s face.

Author Karey White
Karey White grew up in Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Missouri. She attended Ricks College and Brigham Young University. Her first novel, Gifted, was a Whitney Award Finalist.
She loves to travel, read, bake treats, and spend time with family and friends. She and her husband are the parents of four great children. She teaches summer creative writing courses to young people and is currently working on her next book.

14 comments:

I can't stand it when the girl thinks she's so hot she's entitled to being with two men at the same time because she can't help it. HO!

LOL. That was so funny. And true!

This book was the first cover reveal we ever did! I was drawn to it because of the whole P&P theme and from your review it does seem that the person she thought was Mr. Darcy was actually the Mr. Wickham of the story. Great review, as always! I will definitely add this to my TBR list :)

Thank you so much for the great review. I appreciate you taking time to read the book and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I love the same paragraph as Amir, and I'm really glad Elizabeth didn't come off as a HO!

*sigh* P&P is my all-time favorite book, Braine. And I love well-done Jane Austen adaptations. My Own Mr. Darcy seems to fit the bill. ;) Lizzie is the one Austen character I aspire to be - I'm more an Eleanor :) - but I've always admired Lizzie's spirit. So if this Lizzie makes her namesake proud, I'm sold! Thanks so much for sharing your review. I loved it and I can't wait to read this!